All The Sweet Things
by Pieces Of Hope
Summary: You've seen those stupid lists right? About the perfect guy and all his attributes? Well, what if Otani decides he WANTS to be the perfect guy for Koizumi…or is betted to do so? What if he wins? Or worse, what if he loses? Will he lose Koizumi too?
1. Prologue

_All characters are referred to by their FIRST names while this story is told in the thrid person._

**All The Sweet Things**

_Prologue_

Atsushi clicked away on his computer as Heikichi leaned back on the side of his bed and flipped through some swimsuit magazine. Atsushi really wasn't too sure what he was looking for on his computer but it didn't take the shorty very much time before he accidently clicked on some sort of link which lead him to one of the stupidest things he would ever read in his life.

"All the things the right guy would do?" He questioned the screen like that really wasn't what it said at all.

"What?" Heikichi asked, throwing the magazine to the side and looking over the smaller boy's shoulder.

"This is the corniest thing I think I've EVER seen." Atsushi laughed as he scanned the numbers of qualities the perfect man should have. No one man was like this…it was IMPOSSIBLE.

"Read it." Heikichi told him, as he was just as curious but Atsushi's big head was getting in his view so he could barely see the screen to read it himself.

"Okay, so…1, Know how to make her smile when she is down. 2, Stare at her. 3, Sing to her even if you can't. 4, Try to secretly smell her hair BUT on the sly make sure she notices. 5, Play with her hair. 6, Be patient if she takes forever to get ready. 7, Be cute when you really want something. 8, React so cutely when she hits you ever if it actually hurts. 9, Offer her plenty of massages. 10, Be funny, but know when to be serious. 11, Have a creative sense of humor. 12, Help others out. 13, Stick up for her but still be respectful of her independence. 14, Hold her hand and be proud of it. 15, Always be thankful you have her. 16, Give her your best real smile. 17, Always give her a peck on the cheek when you depart from each other's company- even when friends are watching. 18, Plan a romantic date full of cheesy things you wouldn't normally do just because you know it means a lot to her. 19, Dance with her even if you feel like a dork. 20, Come up behind her, put your arms around her, squeeze her tightly against your chest, and whisper softly into her ear and finally 21, Never run out of love." He laughed loudly. "This is so retarded."

He moved the mouse and was ready to click the X to exit out of the screen but Heikichi stopped him.

"No, no…wait." He said, his rather feeble mind coming up with a scheme. Atsushi scratched his head in wonder as to why he told him to stop. This bullshit was nothing…wasn't it?

"Why don't we try it out?" He asked him. Atsushi scrunched up his face in confusion.

"Eh? What are you talking about?" He stared back at the screen and reread it quickly. Heikichi liked to bring up random things when he was pleased to do so.

"Show Koizumi how sweet you can be." Heikichi told him, straightforwardly so with every word his dense friend would completely understand.

"Why does it have to be me?" He asked him, standing up with utter shock.

"Because I already am so sweet to Nobu-chan." He told Atsushi with a wistful, far-off voice. He then quickly fell into a daydream of his current girlfriend and couldn't be bothered to continue from the point in the conversation otherwise.

"I'm not sweet to Koizumi?" He asked Heikichi, dropping to the floor with a lack of confidence in his boyfriend abilities. He started to question how good of a boyfriend he was, going over how he spoke to Koizumi and how he treated her…WAS HE SERIOUSLY BAD?

"AM I BAD?" He shouted to himself but it made it seem like the question was directed to Heikichi.

Heikichi shook his head, "Not bad…I just don't think you're giving it your all. You really are very self-conscious of your relationship Otani."

Atsushi's body shook. He didn't have a relationship complex too, did he!? "What do you mean self-conscious?" He needed a good, clear clarification or else he would just be ten times more confused then he already was and Atsushi was starting to feel a MAJOR headache coming on.

"Well, how come I barely ever see you act like a couple in front of us? That, and you don't even call her by her first name…" He placed his finger on his chin a tapped it lightly. Atsushi watched him do this for a moment before he was brought back by the long, awkward silence.

"I don't know, _maybe I have class_," he started sarcastically under his breath but went on with serious tone. "Because I think it will make people laugh if they see me just friggin' making out with her in public." He stopped to rectify himself. "We only did that once though." Heikichi looked at him oddly as to ask _when_. "Christmas." Atsushi replied. He took a second to gather his thoughts. "And she's so emotional, you know?"

"See, you think people will laugh. **S-E-L-F C-O-N-S-C-I-O-U-S**!" Heikichi boasted. He smirked at his long-time friend's depressed face. "So show her!"

"Show her what?" Atsushi asked, forgetting the stupid list completely. He had fallen deep into a pit of his own lack of confidence.

"Show her that you are the right man for her!" Heikichi said, trying to rekindle the flame of conceit in his friend.

"I'm the _ONLY_ man for her, incase you didn't know." Atsushi told him flatly, thinking it impossible that anybody could come in between Risa and himself. NO he knew that he would let anyone do that, he smirked as he remembered how that _Kohori _person tried and** FAILED** to have Risa for himself...he didn't even want to start thinking about _MAITY_!

"Right, so prove it to her…do every single thing on that list that you find so stupid." Heikichi pushed Atsushi out of the way and printed out the list from the computer.

"I can't..." Atsushi said as he pulled the paper from the printer and reread it again. He wasn't really sure why he couldn't act this way...was it for morals or because he knew he'd fall flat on his ass if he tried?

"Why not?" His friend wondered with a twinge of annoyance.

"I can't even do number 20 _properly_!" He told him dejectedly.

"Be creative. Show her what a real man you are." Heikichi picked up the magazine he tossed to the side earlier and reopened to the page he was staring at.

"You're right Nakao!" Atsushi said with a new confidence that he randomly pulled from no where in a true _Otani_ fashion! "I can do it!"

"Of course you can." He told him half-heartedly, his attention now on the pretty swimsuit model named Reiko. "So you care to make it interesting?" He asked, his eyes never leaving her bikini.

"Inter-esting?" Atsushi asked, his eyes wide with fear, shock, and wonder. He dared to edge closer to Heikichi.

"Do everything on that list, every single number in that order and THEN..." Heikichi stopped, filling terror into Atsushi's entire being.

"Then?"

"Propose!"

_**"WHAT?!"**_


	2. An Accidental Head Start

_Hello all! For those of you who do not know me, I am Pieces Of Hope and here I am to bring you the fanfiction you've all been waiting for __All The Sweet Things__! I am truly glad I at least have a few readers, which is a little bit more then expected to be honest. So, I really do hope you stick with me until the end because I guarantee a fun (and crazy) ride with this one. _

_Oh- and by the way, __kingdomhearts222, you are absolutely right…Lovely Complex will take over the world…and I will over see it all! HAHAHA!_

_**Oi, I edited**- Thanks_ _to Dark Hope Assassin for letting me know I spelled Nakao's name wrong...random or what? _

_And on to chapter one! _

* * *

**Chapter One: An _Accidental _Head Start**

Otani paced back and forth in the room and tried anything to keep his nerves down. He counted backwards, forwards, and even tried standing on his head. He had a nice cold glass of milk and finally, when it was late enough to be considered a time to go to bed, he slipped quickly and quietly under his covers and placed his head face down in the pillow. He muffled a groan of annoyance and finally flipped over for a breath of fresh air.

"What the hell…" he said aloud to himself as he stared up at his ceiling. He held up his hand in front of his face and could barely make out its shape in the darkness of the room. He seriously had tried everything to get his mind off of going to see Risa the next day.

Don't misunderstand.

It wasn't that our dear, sweet Atsushi did not want to see his darling, beautiful Risa. It was more to the fact that Heikichi was going to be there and if he was going to be there it meant that he was going to be throwing the entire _be sweet and propose_ nonsense all over him.

Atsushi then sat up with utter realization. Maybe…JUST maybe it wasn't really nonsense at all! Maybe…maybe it was just the opening he had been looking for. It was true that he had been thinking about proposing to her as he was, in fact, over twenty _and_ he was going to start his teaching job in the fall so there really wasn't any reason why he couldn't marry her now.

Oh, right, his mental strain probably wouldn't let him get that far!

He threw his legs over the side of the bed and began to pace his room, once again, only this time in the dark.

"What the hell…" he said again, as he brushed his hand through his messy, unkempt hair quickly. Thinking over the bet again, he realized he wasn't even sure how to start it! How do you just act so out of character without being called on it?

It wasn't like he was the nicest boyfriend in the world…but he was just right for Risa and he knew that any major changes in his personality would send her fanatical mind flying in ten thousand different directions. She would probably yell at him, then cry, then yell some more and then finally stomp off to complain to Nobuko about him until he made it up to her someway or another.

Risa was a confusing woman…but he loved her all the same so he knew how to just deal with it.

He sat back down on his bed when the knots in his stomach finally subsided. He picked up the ball of paper on the floor and flattened it out. It was rather pointless to do, considering the darkness of his room, but it didn't really matter to him because he had basically memorized every word on that one sheet.

"Number one, know how to make her smile when she is down." He said under his breath. He threw the paper off to the side and slipped back under the sheets.

Then his thoughts started to take a dramatic turn and it is the author's opinion that you all be forewarned.

Atsushi closed his eyes tight and mentally tried to envision Risa's reaction to each and every step. She looked happy, or at least he thought she would be.

This was all for her, wasn't it?

So what if he just happened to give her some extra pampering with sweetness mixed in until he went in for the kill and finally sealed the deal, so to speak.

He would prove to Heikichi that he could be a boyfriend ten thousand times better then he was! And in the end he would win the bet and win Risa again and again and again!

Atsushi grinned madly at his newfound pride and quickly pushed any doubts into the back of his mind. He wasn't sure when they would resurface again but now wasn't the time to think about that, now it was time to sleep. And that came a lot quicker then expected.

"Oi, Otani…get up." Atsushi heard a loud voice command to him through his dream. He turned over in his bed and tried his hardest to block out the voice and all motivation to get up and enter reality once again.

"Oi! OTANI!" The voice screamed and now Atsushi clearly identified the owner of the voice as Risa.

He sat up quickly, too quickly for just waking and he tired his hardest to glare at her with sleepy eyes.

"What's with that look?" Risa asked, standing straight and crossing her arms over her chest. She glared down right back at him and for a few moments it was nothing but silence and death glares.

"Who let you in?" Atsushi asked, finally breaking the silence.

"You gave me a key when you moved in here you idiot!" She nearly shouted at his stupidity. She sat on the edge of his bed, her fighting energy drained faster then she was used to.

Atsushi slipped out of the covers and scratched his head in an effort to clear it of the morning dreariness. He stared down at his feet as thoughts of the night before started to fill his head. He turned away in an effort to hide his grin.

"Well…" he stated, trying to hide his new surfacing happiness. "Good morning." He turned his head slightly and brought his arm around her shoulders.

Huh?

Risa looked up at Atsushi and couldn't help but be baffled by the sudden morning greeting…

How…random…

"Good…morning?" She questioned hesitantly, not as to make any sudden movements. She slinked out of his wrapping and backed up slowly until she felt she was a safe distance from him.

"Why do you question my greeting as if it's poison?" He questioned her in return. His bleak, fallen face replacing his grin. Ah, now this was the Atsushi Risa really knew well.

"I'm sorry!" She replied with a laugh finally catching on with his meek attempts to get their morning on the right foot. "It was just a surprise, you being all touchy like that." She covered her mouth as to subside her laughter.

"Is it bad?" He asked her softly, trying not to look down at the wrinkled paper from the night before. Was there anyway he could act like a honest to goodness _sweet guy_ without her starting to erupt it fits of laughter? Was it possible AT ALL?

"Of course it's not bad." She said lightly, not picking up on the softness of his voice. "It's just different…for you at least. You are subtle in your romantic ways Otani. That's how I know you to be when you are alone with me." She nodded her head in reassurance; proud that her words came out the way she wanted them to.

"Is that okay?" He asked her, doubts from the night before starting to return to the front of his mind. "Wouldn't you…" he stopped, a feeling of humiliation lingering above his head.

"Would I what?" She asked after a moment of waiting in silence. She nudged his shoulder with her arm as to help him try to get his words out. Her words probably wouldn't help him at all with his, even though she was the queen of confessions…so they say.

He couldn't say it…and the only way to recover was… "Nothing." He said with a conceited grin. He laughed loudly at her fallen, disappointed face and hit her shoulder in his normal slapstick fashion. "Don't look so disappointed Koizumi!" He laughed harder, trying to hide his own disappointment with himself. "It was seriously _NOTHING_!" he spoke the word 'nothing' in English as to try to show his emphasis on how unserious the situation really was.

She didn't buy it.

"Why are you acting like this?" She asked, trying _her hardest_ to be mature and not start another fight with him.

"Acting like what?" He asked her slowly, trying _his hardest_ to act like he normally did when he was around her. But it was too comic for the moment…too unreal. She could clearly see through him. All the years she'd known, him his feelings were no longer foggy like the steam from a ramen vendor.

Well, most of his feelings.

"You don't have to put on a fake smile in front of me. I only want real, true Otani smiles. Any others won't do!" She exclaimed.

"Koizumi." He said simply. Her name was all he needed to say…all other words in that moment in time seemed somewhat meaningless.

"Right." She replied. "Now get dressed so we won't miss breakfast entirely, right?" She patted his head softly. "Good boy Otani." She joked.

He knocked off her hand and stood up. He opened his draws and closet and quickly found something suitable to put on for the rest of the day. Risa marveled for a moment on how fast it was for a man to change clothes then fell back onto Atsushi's pillow and faced his wall.

"You aren't hiding your eyes from me, are you Koizumi?" He asked with slight amusement in his voice.

She groaned and forced herself to turn around to shout at him that she was only resting her head but still, Koizumi Risa, at twenty-two years old, couldn't stop the light pink blush that tinted her cheeks. There, Atsushi stood, jeans left unbuttoned and his T-shirt half way on reveling his nice chiseled chest despite his short height.

All those years of basketball had been good to the boy.

"You're blushing." He commented happily. He laughed as he slipped on his shirt and buttoned his pants.

Risa put her hand to her cheek and was shocked but it's warmth. How could she still be so childish as to blush at her half-naked boyfriend? And it's not like she hasn't seen him naked before!

But that's another story and shall be told another time.

She sat on the edge of the bed and slowly found herself staring at each of the objects occupying Atsushi's floor. It only took a moment for her to find the wrinkled paper that rested by the bed.

She picked it up as Atsushi left the room to take care of his bathroom routines, her eyes quickly scanning the numbers and lines of words. She couldn't stop the grin that managed to find it's way to her face as she read it over.

As Atsushi walked back into the room, he spotted Risa cracking up over some wrinkled piece of paper. It took the poor guy a moment to figure out what the hell she had picked up so quickly…then suddenly his eyes grew into two wide, white circles of fear.

Had his plan been foiled so quickly?

"Oi! LET ME HAVE THAT!" He shouted, lunging at her. But she had stood up and held the paper up at her arm's length, which obviously reached way above Atsushi's.

"What the hell is this?" She asked him in fits of giggles. "All the things a sweeeeet guy would do!" She cooed in a joking manner. She looked up towards the sheet and completely missed Atsushi's act of pushing her down onto the bed as a means to get the paper OUT OF HER HANDS. She still laughed, finding the entire situation funny.

"Nakao printed it out as a joke." He told as he grabbed the paper out of her hands and threw it off to the side. "It's stupid right?"

"I guess." She told him out of breath, her laughter finally subsiding. She rested her head back on the comforter and Atsushi laid his head down on her chest as his legs hung off the bed, both of them not caring in the least of their most compromising position.

They laid like that, just with one another for a moment or two…just liking the feel of one another close. "It's nice, hmm?" Risa asked softly, bringing one of her hands to play with Atsushi's hair.

"Umm…yea." He answered her, taking her free hand in his and simply intertwined his fingers with her own. He then, suddenly, turned his head and looked into her eyes and held her gaze.

She blinked once, then twice, and finally when the pink blush tinted her cheeks she felt the need to look away. "What are you staring at?" She asked him, taking her other hand from the top of his head to partially cover her face from his view.

"You." He replied, taking his free hand to move her hand from her face. "So don't hide your face like that."

"Wasn't staring at her one of the numbers on that list?" She asked, not really implying anything but feeling the need to call it out. She looked at the edge of his bed, not sure what she would do if she continued to look into his eyes like that.

Atsushi shrugged, in all honesty he had only remembered now that she had reminded him. "I don't know…I just like your face." He said in a soft yet silly tone. He tucked a stray hair that rested on her cheek behind her ear and grinned.

"Let's go Koizumi." He exclaimed, getting up off her and the bed. He held out his hand for her and she took it gladly. He then pulled her up on her feet quickly and caught her when she stumbled. "You're so klutzy." He told her honestly.

"I am not." She huffed, as if what just happened between them never happened at all. It was all in true Koizumi and Otani couple fashion. One, act all lovey-dovey and then move on. It was as simple as that.

But Atsushi wouldn't let go of her hand…and Risa noticed.

"You ready?" he asked pulling her out of his bedroom and his apartment all together…of course slipping on their shoes first.

"Yea…but we should hurry. Nobu-chan and Nakao-chi are waiting downstairs for us." Risa suddenly remembered.

"Oi, you couldn't tell me this sooner?" He said making a run for the elevator with Risa trying her best not to let go of his hand.

"Sorry!" She laughed as they raced into the tiny square that was the elevator. They caught their breath as the elevator finally reached the main lobby of the apartment complex.

"Hey, what took you two so long?" Nobuko demanded to know until she spotted the two holding hands, her mood changing quickly as she started to laugh, "Were you doing something naughty?"

"You're holding hands?" Heikichi pointed out like no one else had noticed.

"So what? I can hold Koizumi's hand if I want to. Right, _Risa_?" Atsushi asked her, her glanced up in her direction and quickly took notice of her blush.

"Uh, yea. Of course." She smiled widely and placed her free hand on the side of her face. "Well, let's go! We lost lots of time already, right?"

The group agreed and made their way out of the lobby.

Well…Atsushi thought, I just gave myself a head start.

Maybe this won't be as hard as he thought.

"My hand is starting to get sweaty now…let go…!" Risa told him rather coldly. He looked up at her, his gaze almost deadly.

_Or maybe not…_


	3. Make Her Smile

_If I see any reviews with the word finally written in them…I will scream…_

_By the way, um, a lot of reviews kept asking how old everyone was and I stated IT IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER THAT THEY ARE OVER TWENTY!!! And if I remember Risa wanted to be a designer or a stylist right…? In my story she's interning for a fashion company but still has her job at the restaurant for spending cash._

_Enjoy…_

* * *

**All The Sweet Things  
**_**Chapter Two: **__**Make Her Smile**_

"Why are you giving me that look Otani?" Risa asked nearly five minutes after she forcefully made him let go of her hand. The whole incident had drained from her system and she was ready to move on to the next round of arguments or romance. It all deepened on Atsushi mood towards her.

"Do you realize that every time I try to do something nice for you, you FREAK OUT ON ME!" He shouted, his face fallen. He sighed and turned away from her, walking away and giving up on her just in general until his mood lifted.

"I do not." She retorted, chasing after him. It was amazing how Heikichi and Nobuko could just ignore them all together…they just must have been used to it by now considering Risa and Atsushi have been fighting like that for years.

"You do." He told her, his anger calming and being replaced by the emotion he had come to know as annoyance.

"I do not." She said again.

"You do."

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Are you guys kidding me?" Nobuko finally spoke, sighing. "This is a conversation for children! Not two adults who love each other!" She shook her head sadly and grabbed onto Heikichi's arm.

Was there anyway he could possible get this done? Atsushi thought bitterly to himself as he looked up at his girlfriend. Her face had mellowed out and it looked like she was off in a daydream somewhere…perfect.

This was going to be really, really hard…

Atsushi spent that entire day trying to make things better but he failed…and days passed, long and slow days and still that bet with Heikichi made absolutely no progress. He had never felt so pathetic in his entire life. And it wasn't that he wasn't putting in any effort or something along those lines…it was more like every single time he tried to be sweet…which was, now that he was thinking about it, completely random, Risa got extremely questionable about his character, for she was not used to it in the least!

Falling back onto his bed and he looked at his clock which hung on the wall. It was near ten and there was no way he was getting to sleep anytime soon. Reaching for his phone he was surprised it rang before he picked it up.

"Hello?" He greeted with a curious voice. With just one tearful sniff he knew who was on the other end. "Koizumi? What's wrong?" He didn't like it when she cried; he got a real uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Otani…they…it…I…" It was all a jumble of sentences, her blubbering getting in the way of actual words. Finally she spoke clearly: "Can I come over?" She asked and of course without even thinking her boyfriend replied…

"Of course." His voice was soft as he said it and she wailed her thanks on the other side of the phone before hanging up.

He waited patiently for her to knock on the front door of his apartment. Maybe now he could actually start on his list. Recalling number one, one of the few he memorized, "Know how to make her smile when she is down…" it didn't seem that hard, it was something he'd done lots of times before.

When she arrived her knock was light and even from the other side of the door he could hear her sobs. Whatever happened made her whole-heartedly upset and he sincerely hoped it wasn't anything serious. Opening the door, Risa threw herself into his arms and slumped down and he quietly laughed, patting her back.

"O-o-otani!" She wailed as she let her body hang low so she could cry into his chest. It was an interesting position considering their height difference.

"What happened?" He wondered as he looked down at his depressed girlfriend. She sniffed and looked up at him, a rare thing indeed but her low spot called for it.

"I…I…" She started but her eyes welled up with monstrous tears and she began to cry again. Eventually he decided it was best to just sit on the floor. Moving down she followed him and when his bottom reached the ground he resourcefully moved his foot and shut the door behind her.

"S'okay." He soothed her as she let her tears continue to fall. His shirt was now practically soaked through but he didn't really pay any mind to it.

"I…it was for you…and they…not fair…why…life sucks." She mumbled and let out unfinished, strange sentences. She sobbed again and he ran his hand through her hair, soothing her.

Looking around his apartment he tried to find something that would make her smile, something to cheer her up. Finally his eyes landed on something that might do the trick. Moving back just slightly, he felt Risa move along with him, not wanting to let go of him. Finally, getting to the coffee table he pulled off the desired object.

"Look Koizumi." He grinned. She looked up her moist eyes completely red. Staring at the thing he held in her hands…only made her cry harder.

Complete failure.

His face dropped as he looked at the magazine he held in his hands, hoping it wasn't one of the dirty ones Heikichi left out. Turning it round he sighed in relief, seeing a picture of Umibozu there.

But it was Umibozu! Why the hell was she crying?

"Koizumi! It's Umibozu…you know, why is this sad?" He stared at it long and hard and then looked down at Risa who still kept her face in his chest; he could see all the water stains now…

Ah, so he was there to be the boyfriend/tissue? He took a mental note of that.

"Koizumi would you please tell me what's wrong?" He tried to pry her shoulders back so she could look at him but she wasn't having it. She had made herself way to comfortable and was starting to get sleepy. She was sleepy and she was crying and she unmovable. This was just friggin' perfect.

"KOIZUMI!" He shouted her name which forced her up, her tear soaked face looked only as good as the snot that was forcing its way from her nose. He didn't even want to look at his shirt now.

"T-tissue?" She asked with a loud sniff. Atsushi rose from the floor and grabbed the box from his desk, returning and handing it off to her. She took it gladly and went about wiping her face.

"So, will you tell me what happened all ready?" He wondered, sitting down in front of her. Taking a few moments to loudly blow her nose she looked down at her lap and took a deep breath.

"For…for a long while I've been trying to get Umibozu tickets." She stopped as if that were the end of the story.

His shoulders tensed as the silent moment lingered for more then a few minutes. "And…?" He questioned her to say more, that just couldn't be it.

"Oh!" Her voice held a tone of surprise, she was obviously spacing out. He sighed but inwardly refused to yell at her.

"Please don't zone out when you're telling a story!" He said it softly but one could hear the sharpness to his tone, all but Risa herself.

She laughed, "Ha-ha, yeah….anyway. I had been planning to buy them for months and I had a raise coming today too…but she wouldn't give it to me! She said I wasn't being one hundred percent there….whatever that means! I showed up to work on time, every time!" She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. "I just don't get it." Sighing she sniffed again, "So I didn't have enough to buy them and now they're off sale…"

Atsushi shook his head and placed a hand on her head. "You're crazy, you know?"

"Oh but Otani it was for you!" She told him with a little too much passion then needed. She grabbed his hand and held it to her face. "I wanted to take you for you're twenty-second birthday! But now we can't go…so I cried and called you."

Atsushi's smile got brighter and Risa's eyes widened with the look. "You're so stupid Koizumi…" He shook his head and her face dropped as she let his hand fall.

"Why is that?" She shouted in anger, "I did it all for you."

"And I appreciate that…but just having you around on my birthday would have been enough, you know? I don't need tickets or anything fancy. Don't make yourself cry for my sake…" He smiled again, "I like it best when you're happy…yeah?" He patted the top of her head again and brought his hand down to her face, cupping her cheek.

"But…" She tried to argue with him but he shook his head slowly and placed his lips softly on hers, kissing her gently…just enough to let him know that he was serious about what he said.

As he pulled away he saw her glowing smile and the fact that there were no more tears.

He grinned to himself proudly as she beamed at him.

One down…he thought to himself happily…

_Just about one million to go..._


End file.
